HOUDON'S 
WASHINGTON 


AN    ADDRESS 


W.   A.  DAY 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


[A. 


a 


7   <i 


O 


HOUDON'S 
WASHINGTON 

AN    ADDRESS 
by 

W.  A.  DAY 

before  the  eleventh  annual  convention  of  the 
General  Agency  Association 

of 

THE  EQUITABLE  LIFE 
ASSURANCE  SOCIETY 

of  the  UNITED  STATES 

Atlantic  City 

May  5-6 

1922 


Copyright,  1922,  by 
W.  A.  Day 


Ne 


PREFACE 

THE  following  address  was  delivered  before  the  eleventh 
annual  convention  of  the  General  Agency  Association 
of  the  Equitable  held  at  Atlantic  City  on  May  5  and  6,  1922. 

Insofar  as  the  insurance  on  Houdon's  life  is  concerned 
which  I  believe  to  have  been  the  first  business  insurance 
written  in  American  history,  my  attention  was  drawn  to  it 
by  reading  certain  letters  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  I  subse- 
quently searched  further  and  in  the  archives  of  the  State 
Department  in  Washington  found  more  material  which,  for 
some  unknown  reasons,  had  largely  been  omitted  from  the 
printed  correspondence  of  John  Adams. 

In  an  address  at  the  Tenth  Meeting  of  the  General 
Agency  Association  I  mentioned  this  insurance,  intending 
at  the  time  to  enlarge  upon  it  at  some  future  date.  A  number 
of  matters  intervened  and  it  was  only  this  year  that  I  was 
able  to  present  such  further  material  as  I  had  been  able  to 
find.  In  the  meantime  a  number  of  gentlemen  asked 
me  for  the  material  which  I  had  used  in  my  first  address 
and  that  material  was,  with  my  consent,  used  by  them.  I 
have  now  added  considerable  data  not  contained  in  the  first 
address  and  have  in  the  following  pages  set  down  what  I  was 
able  to  find  regarding  Houdon's  visit  to  this  country  and  the 
history  of  the  Washington  Statue  in  Richmond. 

The  material  for  the  study  of  this  is  meager.  Houdon 
himself  has  left  no  records  as  far  as  I  am  able  to  discover, 
and  his  contemporaries  on  this  side  did  not  greatly  enlarge 
upon  his  visit.  Some  of  the  works  which  may  contain 
greater  details  were  not  accessible  to  me;  what  I  have  written 
is  at  best  a  modest  contribution  to  the  history  of  Houdon 
and  Washington.  It  lays  no  claim,  however  slight,  to 
completeness  and  was  written  largely  for  my  own  enjoyment. 
I  present  it,  therefore,  as  the  result  of  an  amateur  interest 
and  as  nothing  further. 

W.A.D. 


550322 


HERE  are  episodes  in  the  lives  of 
great  men  which  are  negligible  to 
the  philosophical  historian;  but 
which,  however,  may  possess  the  more 
charm  for  the  amateur.  They  cast  side- 
lights upon  the  figures  of  history;  they 
infuse  warmth  into  the  cold  monumental 
conception  of  greatness;  but  they  do  more 
than  this,  for  episodes  in  the  lives  of  national 
heroes  are  of  the  very  stuff  of  the  nation 
itself,  so  completely  incorporated  in  its  great 
men,  especially  during  the  great  crises 
which  bring  them  forth.  Democracies  are 
peculiarly  alive  in  their  heroes;  France  is 
Louis  XI,  and  Richelieu  and  Danton  and 
Napoleon;  England  is  Cromwell  and 
Chatham,  Nelson  and  Wellington;  and  the 
American  Revolution  lives  most  pristinely 
in  Washington. 

The  episode  of  which  I  shall  speak  to 
you  is  an  episode  in  Washington's  life.  To 
be  sure  his  role  in  it  is  passive  and  distant 
and  yet  it  is  because  of  the  events  of  which 
I  shall  speak  that  we  know  anything  defi- 
nite of  his  physical  appearance.     His  statue 


[71 


by  Houdon  and  the  measurements  the 
sculptor  took  are  the  only  accurate  and 
trustworthy  records  we  have  of  the  gen- 
eral physical  aspect  of  the  "father  of  his 
country." 

Beyond  the  general  interest  we  all  take 
in  everything  relating  to  the  founders  of 
our  Republic,  this  tale  has  an  aspect  pecu- 
liarly interesting  to  us — life  insurance  played 
a  prominent  part  in  this  historical  episode; 
it  enabled  the  impoverished  State  of  Vir- 
ginia to  employ  the  greatest  living  sculptor, 
and  one  of  the  greatest  portrait  sculp- 
tors of  all  time,  to  make  an  image  of 
Virginia's  greatest  son.  At  that  compara- 
tively early  date  in  its  development,  life 
insurance  provided  in  simple  form  what  it 
provides  a  thousand-fold  more  elaborately 
today— PROTECT  I  ON . 

On  June  22,  1784,  the  General  As- 
sembly of  Virginia  passed  a  resolution  call- 
ing upon  Governor  Harrison  to  take  steps 
for  the  procuring  of  a  statue  of  General 
Washington  "to  be  of  the  finest  marble  and 
of  the  best  workmanship. "  Art  had  not  fiour- 


[81 


ished  in  the  frontier  communities,  which  all 
the  States  still  were;  there  were  many  re- 
spectable craftsmen;  there  were  no  sculp- 
tors. Whatever  the  merits  of  craftsman- 
ship, they  would  have  proved  wholly  un- 
availing in  a  task  which  required  the  greatest 
of  art  in  conception  and  execution.  Such 
a  sculptor  could  then  be  found  only  in 
France  where  art  flourished  under  the  pa- 
tronage of  a  lavish  court.  Moreover,  the 
State  of  Virginia  already  knew  what  an  ar- 
tist France  could  produce,  for  it  possessed  a 
bust  of  Lafayette  by  Houdon,  a  copy  of 
the  bust  it  had  itself  presented  to  the  Mu- 
nicipality of  Paris.  Hence  it  was  to  France 
that  Virginia  turned  and  to  the  same  artist 
who  had  already  carried  out  work  for  the 
Commonwealth  to  honor  a  great  friend. 

Jean  Antoine  Houdon  was  born  in  1741 
and  was  therefore  in  the  full  vigor  of  life 
and  achievement.  He  was  certainly  at  the 
height  of  his  glory,  a  glory  undimmed  by 
the  progress  of  time,  for  but  lately  he  has 
been  ranked  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  por- 
trait sculptors   by  no    less    a    man    than 


191 


Rodin.  He  had  at  this  time  completed  his 
greatest  work,  to  which  Rodin  refers,  his 
bust  of  Voltaire;  he  had  made  an  equestrian 
statue  of  Louis  XV,  and  was  overwhelmed 
by  commissions  for  kings  and  princes.  He 
had,  in  1778,  made  a  bust  of  Franklin  and 
in  1780  one  of  Admiral  John  Paul  Jones, 
who,  being  a  man  of  much  vanity,  had  sent 
a  number  of  casts  to  friends,  all  but  one  of 
which  are  now  lost.  The  bust  of  Franklin 
had  been  a  remarkable  work.  Houdon's 
desire  for  accuracy  in  portraiture  had  caused 
it  to  be  magnificent  as  realistic  sculpture, 
but  somewhat  disappointing  to  Franklin's 
friends,  who  found  in  it  certain  traits  not 
mentioned  by  Poor  Richard  in  his  famous 
autobiography.  But  the  rugged  protago- 
nist of  civic  and  private  virtue  who  had  been 
somewhat  "cruelly"  portrayed,  bore  Houdon 
no  grudge.  When  Harrison  wrote  Jefferson 
to  find  the  best  sculptor  in  all  Europe, 
Franklin  joined  him  in  recommending 
Houdon.  Harrison  had  proposed  that  the 
statue  be  made  from  a  life-sized  drawing  of 
Washington  by  Charles  Willson  Peale  (price 
30  guineas).     Jefferson,  who  together  with 


[10] 


Franklin  had  approached  Houdon  and  found 
him  willing,  wrote  Harrison  on  January  12, 
1785,  as  follows: 

"Statues  are  made  every  day  from  portraits, 
but  if  the  person  be  living,  they  are  always 
condemned  by  those  who  know  him,  for  want 
of  resemblance. " 

Willing  Houdon  was;  he  fully  appreciated 
the  honor  of  the  choice  of  himself  as  sculp- 
tor, but  he  would  not  do  what  Harrison 
wanted;  he  would  make  the  statue  only 
after  he  had  personally  measured  his  sub- 
ject and  had  made  a  clay  model  from  which 
he  could  in  three  years  complete  the  work. 
He  told  Jefferson  that  he  had  with  diffi- 
culty escaped  a  commission  to  make  a 
statue  of  Catharine  of  Russia  in  order  to 
devote  himself  to  the  task  for  which  Jeffer- 
son wanted  him.  But  Houdon  (you  will 
find  confirmation  of  this  in  the  pictures  of 
him)  did  not  lack  the  thrifty  characteristics 
of  his  race;  he  had  his  eye  on  a  bigger  busi- 
ness than  the  State  of  Virginia's  commis- 
sion. On  July  12,  1785,  Jefferson  wrote  the 
Virginia  delegation  in  Congress,  as  follows  : 


I  111 


"The  most  important  object  with  him  is 
to  be  employed  to  make  General  Washington's 
equestrian  statue  for  Congress.  Nothing  but 
the  expectation  of  this  could  have  engaged  him 
to  have  undertaken  the  voyage,  as  the  pedes- 
trian statue  for  Virginia  will  not  make  it  worth 
the  business  he  loses  by  absenting  himself." 

The  equestrian  statue  was  never  made;  its 
cost  would  have  been  600,000  livres  or 
£24,000  if  it  were  to  be  completed  in 
ten  years  and  1,000,000  Hvres  (£40,000) 
if  it  were  to  be  completed  in  eight  years. 
This  was  a  sum  wholly  beyond  the  means 
of  the  United  States  to  pay,  for  they  were 
extremely  impoverished  by  the  war  of  the 
Revolution  and  in  a  most  unsound  and 
dangerous  financial  condition.  But  Houdon 
never  abandoned  hope  and  offered  his  serv- 
ices again  as  late  as  March  26,  1804,  as 
unavailingly  as  before. 

It  was  thus  full  of  hope  for  greater 
commissions  that  he  agreed  to  go  to  Amer- 
ica to  model  Washington  and  from  this 
model  to  make  a  pedestrian  statue.  It  was 
originally  hoped  that  Houdon  would  sail 


[12] 


early  in  the  year  1785,  but  his  departure 
dragged  on  until  July.  A  letter  from  Jef- 
ferson to  Patrick  Henry,  then  Governor  of 
Virginia,  written  on  July  15,  17S5,  gives  the 
terms  of  the  contract;  Houdon  was  to  re- 
ceive 25,000  livres,  the  equivalent  of  1,000 
English  guineas,  besides  his  expenses  for  the 
journey,  which  were  expected  to  be  about 
4,000  or  5,000  livres.  But  an  important 
provision  in  this  contract  was  irksome  and 
was  agreed  upon  only  because  Houdon 
made  it  "a  sine  qua  non  without  which  all 
would  have  been  off."  This  was  the  pro- 
vision that  in  the  event  of  his,  Houdon's, 
death  during  this  journey,  the  State  of  Vir- 
ginia would  pay  his  family  10,000  livres,  or 
about  400  guineas.     To  quote  Jeff er son : 

"This  latter  proposition  was  disagreeable 
to  us,  but  he  has  a  father,  mother  and  sister 
who  have  no  other  resource  but  in  his  labors 
and  he  is  himself  one  of  the  best  of  men." 

No  wonder  that  Jefferson  found  this  propo- 
sition irksome.  The  state  of  sea  travel  was 
uncertain,  the  dangers  of  it  were  great.  An 
accident  would  have  cost  Virginia  dear  for 


[13  1 


we  find  that  at  this  time  they  had  consider- 
able trouble  finding  the  8,333-^^  livres  which 
was  to  be  paid  down  as  an  advance  pay- 
ment with  which  to  procure  the  marble 
from  Italy.  But  "the  best  of  men"  insisted. 
He  also  had  read  Rousseau  and  was  as  full 
of  sentiment  as  was  Jefferson  whose  letters 
regarding  Houdon  are  occasionally  delight- 
fully ingenuous;  he  was,  however,  a  French- 
man;  he  was  m  or e  artisan  than  artist  in  senti- 
ment  and  he  was  determined  to  have  his 
family  profit  by  his  death,  should  such  an 
eventuality  befall  the  thrifty  head  of  this 
touching  household. 

JefTerson's  mind  now  turned  to  the 
covering  of  the  risk  by  insurance  placed  in 
London  upon  the  life  of  Houdon.  This  had 
not  been  suggested  by  Houdon  who  left  the 
matter  of  how  to  provide  the  funds  with 
which  his  family  were  to  be  paid  to  those 
who  undertook  to  pay  them.  Jefferson's 
practical  mind  hit  upon  this  scheme  of  pro- 
tecting the  State  against  loss  by  Houdon's 
death  while  upon  his  journey.  He  wrote 
from  Paris,  where  he  resided  as  minister  to 


114] 


the  Court  of  France,  to  Adams  at  London 
under  date  of  July  7,  1785,  as  follows: 

"Monsieur  Houdon  has  agreed  to  go  to 
America  to  take  the  figure  of  General  Wash- 
ington. In  case  of  his  death,  between  his 
departure  from  Paris  and  his  return  to  it, 
we  may  lose  twenty  thousand  livres.  I  ask 
the  favor  of  you  to  enquire  what  it  will  cost 
to  ensure  that  sum,  on  his  life,  in  London, 
and  to  give  me  as  early  an  answer  as  possible, 
that  I  may  order  the  insurance  if  I  think  the 
terms  easy  enough.  He  is,  I  believe,  between 
thirty  and  thirty-five  years  of  age,  healthy 
enough,  and  will  be  absent  about  six  months. " 

As  the  sum  guaranteed  Houdon  by  the  con- 
tract in  case  of  his  death  was  only  10,000  livres 
the  loss  of  20,000  livres  of  which  Jefferson 
speaks  must  have  included  the  first  pay- 
ment already  made  of  8,333  livres  which 
would  have  been  lost  should  Houdon  not 
have  lived  to  make  the  bust  and  should 
the  marble  have  been  purchased  without 
being  used  by  Houdon.  Houdon  was 
to  sail  on  the  28th  of  July.  An  answer 
from  Adams  therefore  was  of  importance 
if    the    assurance    was    to    be     effected 


[15  1 


before  Houdon  incurred  the  risk  of  the 
voyage.  Houdon  did  sail  on  July  28th 
from  LeHavre  in  company  of  Benjamin 
Franklin  and,  as  Jefferson  wrote  to  Wash- 
ington on  July  10,  1785,  "one  or  two  subor- 
dinate workmen,  who"  as  the  discoverer  that 
all  men  are  created  equal  ingenuously  as- 
sured Washington  "of  course,  will  associate 
with  their  own  class."  On  his  departure 
Houdon  lost  his  clothes,  or  rather  left  them 
behind  him,  and  subsequent  correspondence 
regarding  his  expenses  mentions  the  pur- 
chase of  new  shirts,  etc.,  Houdon  having 
but  four  on  the  voyage. 

Let  us  now  leave  Houdon  and  follow 
the  course  of  the  insurance  on  his  life  which 
had  been  proposed  by  Jefferson  who  had 
not  heard  from  Adams.  On  August  4th 
Adams  wrote  the  following  letter : 

Grosvenor  Square,  August  4,  1785. 
*'Houdon's  life  may  be  insured  for  five  per 
cent,  two  for  the  Life  and  three  for  the  Voyage. 
I  mentioned  it  at  Table  with  several  mer- 
chants; they  all  agreed  that  it  would  not  be 
done  for  less.    But  Dr.  Price,  who  was  present. 


[16] 


undertook  to  enquire  and  inform  me.  His 
answer  is,  that  it  may  be  done  at  an  office 
in  Hackney  for  five  per  cent.  He  cannot 
yet  say  for  less,  but  will  endeavor  to  reduce 
it  a  little.  You  may  write  to  the  Dr.  to  get 
it  done  and  he  will  reduce  it,  if  possible." 

It  appears  from  this  letter  that  Adams  was 
not  particularly  interested  in  procuring  this 
insurance;  for  a  number  of  large  insurance 
companies  were  then  in  existence  and  he 
could,  without  serious  inconvenience,  have 
answered  Jefferson  sooner. 

On  August  loth  Jefferson  replied  to 
Adams  and  asked  him  to  effect  the  insur- 
ance. His  letter,  which  follows,  is  interest- 
ing. To  cover  the  risk  completely  the  life 
of  Houdon  should  have  been  insured  not 
only  for  the  10,000  livres  tournois  covering 
the  sum  to  be  paid  to  his  heirs  but  also  for 
the  8333.  livres  tournois  which  had  been 
paid  and  which  would  have  been  uselessly 
expended,  had  he  died  and,  in  addition,  the 
travelling  expenses  should  have  been  in- 
cluded, as  they  also  would  have  been  vainly 
spent  in  the  event  of  his  death.     But  the 


[17  1 


State  was  probably  too  poor  and  we  see  that 
the  sum  covered  was  comparatively  small. 

*'  I  will  pray  you  to  insure  Houdon's  life 
from  the  27th  of  last  month  till  his  return  to 
Paris.  As  he  was  to  stay  in  America  a  month 
or  two  he  will  probably  be  about  six  months; 
but  the  three  per  cent  for  the  voyage  being 
once  paid,  I  suppose  they  will  insure  his  life 
by  the  month,  whether  the  absence  be  longer 
or  shorter.  The  sum  to  be  insured  is  15,000 
livres  tournois.  If  it  be  not  necessary  to  pay 
the  money  immediately  there  is  a  prospect  of 
the  exchange  becoming  more  favorable.  But 
whenever  it  is  necessary  be  so  good  as  to  pro- 
cure it  by  sending  a  draft  on  Mr.  Grand, 
which  I  shall  take  care  will  be  honored." 

To  this  letter  there  was  no  reply.  Adams 
presumably  put  Jefferson's  letter  aside  and 
forgot  it.  On  September  24th  Jefferson  be- 
came anxious.  He  could  not  have  heard 
of  the  arrival  or  non- arrival  of  Houdon  and 
Franklin  by  this  time,  but  he  justly  feared 
that  Adams  had  jeopardized  the  whole  busi- 
ness. (Houdon  had  arrived  safely  in  Phila- 
delphia on  September  14,  1785,  which,  of 
course,  was  not  yet  known  in  Paris  and 


[18] 


London.)  Jefferson  now  wrote  Adams  re- 
questing the  immediate  effecting  of  the 
insurance : 

"Is  insurance  made  on  Houdon's  life?  I 
am  uneasy  about  it,  lest  we  should  hear  of 
any  accident.  As  yet  there  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  their  safe  passage.  If  the  insurance 
is  not  made,  I  will  pray  you  to  have  it  done 
immediately." 

And  eleven  days  later  Adams  wrote  him  a 
letter  containing  an  explanation  but  hardly 
an  excuse  (on  October  5,  1785,  when 
Houdon  had  already  been  three  days  at 
Mt.  Vernon.)  From  this  letter  it  appears 
that  the  fault  was  that  of  Dr.  Price  and 
that  immediate  steps,  unless  the  doctor's 
memory  should  again  fail  him,  would  be 
taken  to  place  the  insurance. 

"Dr.  Price  called  upon  me  this  morning  but 
had  unfortunately  wholly  forgot  the  insurance 
on  Houdon's  life,  but  I  gave  him  an  extract 
of  your  letter  to  me,  and  promised  to  pay  the 
money  for  the  premium  at  any  moment.  I  am 
afraid  that  certificates  of  Houdon's  state  of 
health  will  be  required,  and  the  noise  of  Al- 


[19] 


gerine  captures  may  startle  the  insurers.  The 
Doctor  (Price),  however,  will  get  it  done  if  he 
can,  and  as  low  as  possible." 

In  this  we  get  a  brief  insight  into  the  sound- 
ness of  British  insurance  methods  even  then 
and  also  into  the  curious  delay  on  the  part 
of  Adams;  and  the  light  is  thrown  upon  him, 
who  was  in  this  case,  from  what  motives 
we  know  not,  certainly  negligent  and  dis- 
obliging. Fortunately  the  insurance  was 
never  needed;  had  it  been  needed  the  loss 
would  have  fallen  hard  upon  Virginia  be- 
cause of  the  negligence  of  Adams  or  per- 
haps Dr.  Price. 

The  insurance  was,  however,  effected 
only  on  the  12th  of  October,  1785,  as  ex- 
plained by  a  letter  of  Adams  to  Jefferson 
dated  October  24th,  more  than  three  months 
after  Houdon's  departure.  The  risk  which 
Virginia  had  meant  to  insure  she  had  to 
carry  herself  for  those  three  months.  The 
English  underwriters  refused  to  "look  back" 
and  would  insure  only  for  the  future.  It 
may  seem  curious  to  us  that  they  should 
so  refuse,  but  news  travelled  slowly  and  had 


[201 


they  'iooked  back"  the  news  of  the  in- 
sured's death  might  have  been  travelling 
just  as  the  insurance  was  being  effected. 

"The  insurance  is  made  upon  Houdon's 
life  for  six  months  from  the  12th  of  October. 
I  have  paid  Thirty-two  Pounds,  eleven  shil- 
lings Premium  and  charges,  which  you  will 
please  give  me  credit  for.  I  could  not  persuade 
them  to  look  back,  as  they  say  they  never 
ensure  but  for  the  future  and  from  the  date 
of  the  Policy.  I  suppose  it  will  be  safest  to 
keep  the  receipt  and  policy  here,  for  fear  of 
accidents." 

It  can  only  be  hoped  that  Adams  took  more 
interest  in  the  safe  keeping  of  the  policy 
than  he  had  in  the  effecting  of  the  insur- 
ance. This  ends  the  insurance  phase  of  the 
episode.  It  is  interesting  in  showing  Jeffer- 
son's acute  appreciation  of  the  principle  of 
insurance. 

Houdon  had  arrived  safely  with  his 
four  shirts  and  Dr.  Franklin  in  Philadel- 
phia and  had  gone  to  Mt.  Vernon  where  he 
arrived  on  October  id,  at  eleven  o'clock  at 
night,  escorted  by  a  French  gentleman  from 


[211 


Alexandria.  We  hope  he  had  suffered  from 
no  impositions  such  as  Jefferson,  in  the  in- 
terest of  thrift  and  the  expense  account, 
had  hoped  would  be  spared  him.  He  set  to 
work  and  began  an  exhaustive  series  of 
measurements  of  Washington.  At  this 
point  history  becomes  singularly  silent. 
There  are  no  records  on  the  part  of  Houdon 
of  his  American  visit;  only  a  few  entries 
without  detail  appear  in  Washington's 
Diary.  On  hearing  of  Houdon's  arrival 
Washington  wrote  him : 

"By  a  letter,  which  I  have  lately  had  the 
honor  to  receive  from  Dr.  Franklin,  at  Phila- 
delphia, I  am  informed  of  your  arrival  at  that 
place.  Many  letters  from  very  respectable 
characters  in  France,  as  well  as  the  Doctor's, 
inform  me  of  the  occasion,  for  which,  though 
the  case  is  not  of  my  seeking,  I  feel  the  most 
agreeable  and  grateful  sensations.  I  wish  the 
object  of  your  mission  had  been  more  worthy 
of  the  masterly  genius  of  the  first  statuary  in 
Europe;  for  thus  you  are  represented  to  me.  It 
will  give  me  pleasure.  Sir,  to  welcome  you  to 
the  seat  of  my  retirement,  and  whatever  I 
have  or  can  procure,  that  is  necessary  to  your 
purposes,  or  convenient  and  agreeable  to  your 


[22] 


wishes,  you  must  freely  command,  as  inclina- 
tion to  oblige  you  will  be  among  the  last  things 
in  which  I  shall  be  found  deficient,  either  on 
your  arrival  or  during  your  stay."  (Sep- 
tember 26,  1785.) 

It  was  an  austere  letter  and  somewhat  un- 
gracious in  its  insistence  on  the  case  not 
being  of  his  seeking.  The  rest  of  the  letter 
is  polite  but  distant  and  Houdon  may  have 
been  chilled  by  it.  It  has  been  said  that 
he  was  not  treated  with  great  consideration 
or  with  the  consideration  he  expected  by 
Washington  and  the  Americans.  Certainly 
he  made  no  impression  on  Washington, 
whose  entries  in  his  diary  are  meagre.  Per- 
haps Houdon  was  disappointed  in  not  ob- 
taining the  commission  for  the  equestrian 
statue  —  a  commission  far  beyond  the 
means  of  Congress  to  remunerate.  At  all 
events  we  know  little  of  his  stay  at  Mt. 
Vernon  or  in  this  country. 

He  worked  assiduously  and  on  October 
13th  he  made  a  life  mask  of  Washington 
which  is  now  in  the  possession  of  J.  P. 
Morgan,  Esq.     He  also  made  detailed  meas- 


123  1 


urements  for  his  great  work  and  left  Mt. 
Vernon  on  October  14th,  returning  to  France 
where  he  arrived  before  Christmas,  1785. 

On  December  16,  1786,  he  showed  a 
bust  in  Paris  of  Washington  which,  how- 
ever, is  not  what  is  commonly  known  as 
the  Houdon  Bust ;  there  were  several  busts 
all  rather  similar  made  by  him ;  this  bust 
was  exhibited  at  the  Paris  Salon  in  1787. 
The  statue  itself  should  have  been  com- 
pleted in  1789  at  the  latest,  but  it  did  not 
reach  its  destination  until  1796  when  it  was 
set  up  in  the  Capitol  at  Richmond.  This 
has  been  variously  attributed  to  the  Revo- 
lutionary disturbances  in  France,  but  it  is 
not  the  likely  reason.  The  Revolution  during 
its  first  two  years  did  not  greatly  affect  the 
average  citizen ;  even  during  the  Terror,  life 
continued  much  as  before.  The  truth  of 
the  matter  is  that  Houdon  would  not  de- 
liver the  statue  because  he  was  not  paid. 
Non-payment  does  not  seem  a  vice  to  poor 
debtors,  and  the  United  States  collectively 
and  individually  were  poor.  The  archives 
of   Virginia  contain  a  voluminous   corre- 


[241 


•^.jp^ssim^?'^ 


spondence  with  Houdon  regarding  the  pay- 
ments, the  last  of  which  was  not  made 
until  1793  when  Houdon,  who  had  lost  the 
patronage  of  the  great,  when  the  great  lost 
their  heads  in  more  senses  than  one,  was  in 
very  indigent  circumstances.  In  fact,  the 
last  payment  of  2,800  francs  was  not  made 
until  1803  when  Houdon  received  this  sum 
in  settlement  of  his  loss  on  assignats  in 
which  he  had  been  paid — and  gave  final  re- 
ceipt for  the  whole  transaction.  It  has  been 
said  that  Houdon's  reward  lay  in  the  grati- 
tude of  American  posterity — again  the  "best 
of  men"  fails  us;  again  he  thriftily  insists  on 
present  payment.  But  at. last  he  was  paid ; 
the  chapter  closes  with  his  last  pathetic  offer 
in  1804,  mentioned  above,  to  make  an  eques- 
trian statue  for  which  he  exhibited  a  model 
about  one  foot  high  in  the  Salon  of  1793. 
A  German  traveler  now  unknown  saw  it  in 
his  studio — all  trace  of  it  is  lost.  And 
America  lost  an  image  which  might  have 
been  an  equal  to  the  Colleoni  at  Venice  by 
Verrocchio  and  Donatello's  great  Gatta- 
m  ela ta  of  Padua .  The  statue  reached  Rich- 
mond  finally  and  was  set  up  without  cere- 


[25] 


J 


mony  on  May  14,  1796.  The  fact  that  the 
State  House  was  not  completed  before  then 
prevented  its  earlier  delivery  and  erection. 
It  is  a  life-size  statue  of  Washington,  six  feet 
two  inches  high,  and  stands  on  a  pedestal 
five  feet  high.  Originally  the  pedestal  was 
to  have  borne  the  following  inscription : 

THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY  OF  THE 
CONGRESS  OF  VIRGINIA 

HAVE  CAUSED  THIS  STATUE  TO  BE 

ERECTED  AS  A  MONUMENT  OF 

AFFECTION  AND  GRATITUDE 

TO  GEORGE  WASHINGTON 

WHO 

UNITING  TO  THE  ENDOWMENTS  OF 

THE  HERO  THE  VIRTUES  OF 

THE  PATRIOT 

AND  EXERCISING  BOTH  IN  ESTAB- 
LISHING THE  LIBERTIES  OF 
HIS  COUNTRY 

HAS  RENDERED  HIS  NAME  DEAR 

TO    HIS   FELLOW   CITIZENS  AND 

GIVEN  THE  WORLD  AN  IMMORTAL 

EXAMPLE  OF  TRUE  GLORY 


[26] 


This  inscription  was  not  placed  on  the  ped- 
estal; originally,  Washington's  name  only 
was  written  on  it;  he  needed  and  needs  no 
further  eulogy.  He  is  depicted  in  a  simple 
military  uniform,  a  cloak  falling  over  his 
back;  his  right  hand  grasping  a  walking 
stick,  his  left  reposing  on  the  Republican 
fasces,  symbol  of  law  and  unity.  At  his 
feet  stands  a  plow.  The  statue  being  life 
size  gives  an  unfortunate  impression  of 
smallness,  accentuated  by  the  head  and 
the  rather  thin  legs.  An  antique  cos- 
tume had  been  proposed  ;  Washington 
and  Houdon  preferred  to  show  Wash- 
ington as  the  soldier  and  citizen  who 
returned  to  his  plow  having  achieved  the 
liberty  of  his  country.  It  is  not  Houdon's 
best  work;  the  modern  costume  proved  a 
handicap  by  putting  an  undue  emphasis  on 
naturalistic  detail  of  dress.  But  nothing 
can  exceed  the  head  (and  portrait  sculpture 
was  Houdon's  field  par  excellence)  in  firm- 
ness and  dignity.  It  is  the  head  of  the 
thinker,  the  austere  philosopher  and  the 
far-seeing  statesman.  A  copy  of  the  statue 
in  bronze  has  been   placed  outside   the 


[27  1. 


National  Gallery  on  Trafalgar  Square  in  Lon- 
don. Opposite,  though  some  distance  away, 
the  statue  of  Charles  I  is  placed  riding 
toward  Whitehall,  sitting  on  his  horse  im- 
periously, every  inch  a  king,  a  symbol  of  the 
kingship  that  is  passed.  And  from  his 
pedestal  another  looks  steadily  towards  the 
Thames  and  the  sea  —  George  Washington, 
symbol  of  his  people  and  the  kingship  of 
Liberty  and  Democracy. 


1281 


ADDENDA 


D       D       E       N       D       U       M 


Letter  of  Houdon 
8  September  I7q6 
To  the  Governor  of  Virginia 


"The  eight  July  1785  he  was  agreed  between  his 
excellency  Mr.  Jefferson  in  the  Virginia  States  name 
and  me  that  I  should  executed  in  marble  the  statue 
of  Mr.  Washington  for  the  price  of  25000  french  money 
to  be  paid  in  three  times — at  the  period  of  the  last 
payment  at  the  end  of  1 792  I  received  qooo  which  would 
formed  the  whole  sum  I  ought  to  received  if  it  had  not 
been  paid  in  assignats  who  losting  in  that  time  60/100 
only  give  the  value  5625  silver.    I  remains  due  3375- 

By  a  letter  to  his  excellency  Mr.  Morris  I  immediately 
claim  against  this  sort  of  payment.  I  enclose  here  the 
answer  Mr.  Grand  made  for  him  to  me — Mr.  Morris 
and  Mr.  Short  didn't  received  answer  from  the  Vir- 
ginias State  to  the  several  letters  they  wrote  on  this 
account.  When  at  the  end  of  1795  his  excellency  Mr. 
Monroe  ordered  the  statues  departure.  I  renewed  my 
claim  for  being  paid  the  sum  of  3  3  75  but  neither  the  min- 
ister nor  the  consul  won't  take  any  determination  on  this 
subject  they  and  me  wrote  to  the  Virginia's  state  on 
this  account,  but  again  no  answer.  Now  I  address 
myself  directly  to  you,  Sir,  and  I  hope  you  will  find  my 
request  as  right  as  any  of  the  three  ministers  above 
mentioned  and  that  I  shall  received  a  satisfactory 
answer.  I  am  with  the  respect  due  your  character  Sir, 
of  your  excellency  the  most  obedient  servant, 

Houdon 
Sculpteur  au  Louvre  a  Paris 


ADDENDUM 


Receipt  of  Hondo n 
for  the   last  payment 


J'ai  regu  de  son  excellence.  Monsieur  Monroe,  pour 
le  compte  de  I'etat  de  Virginie,  la  somme  de  deux  mille 
huit  cent  Livres  pour  solde  ce  qui  me  restait  du  sur  le 
statue  pedestre  du  General  Washington,  que  j'ai  exe- 
cutee  et  livree  au  dit  etat.    Paris  ce  27  Prairial  an  11. 

HOUDON. 

(16  Juin  1803). 


ADDENDUM 


BOOKS 
CONSULTED 

1.  Hart.  Charles  Henry  and  E. 
Biddle,  Memoirs  of  the  Life  6* 
Works  of  Jean  Antoine  Houdon, 
The  Sculptor  of  Voltaire  & 
Washington. 

Philadelphia,   printed    for    the 
authors  iqii. 

2.  Smouse,  Florence  Ingersoll 

Houdon  en  Amerique 

Revue  de  I'Art  Paris  1Q14. 

3.  Giacometti,  Georges 

Le  Statuaire  Jean  Antoine  Houdon 
et  son  epoque  (i  741-1828)   Paris 
Jouve  6"  Cie.     iqi8-iqiq. 

4.  W.  S.  Baker,  The  Engraved  Por- 
traits of  Washington. 
Philadelphia,  Lindsay  and  Baker 
1880. 


JEAN    ANTOINE    HOUDON 
BY    BOILLY 


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